Pharmacy Owner Sentenced in Fraud Case

A Charleston pharmacy will spend three years on probation for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says Trivillian’s Pharmacy and its former owner, Paula J. Butterfield, were sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston. Butterfield will spend a year and a day in prison.

Butterfield pleaded guilty in February to making a false statement in a health care matter. She also pleaded guilty on behalf of the pharmacy to health care fraud and misbranding drugs.

Goodwin says the pharmacy admitted to dispensing compounded drugs and generic drugs and billing Medicare and Medicaid for brand name drugs, which are more expensive. Butterfield admitted to submitting false claims to Medicare on her own behalf.

Trivillian’s will forfeit more than $355,000 from the scheme to the government.